FAIZE - *unedited sneak peek*

Faize

“Ayo, Faize!”

Even over the loud music playing in the building, I heard my name. Nico and I stopped and turned toward the voice.

“Wassup, homie?” I greeted as Darryl approached me. Darryl, Nico, and I were initiated into Havoc around the same time and had been down with each other ever since.

He extended his hand toward me, holding out two fingers and curving the middle one. The gesture created a lowercase h, which was the Havoc symbol. I did the same, and we connected them before pulling away.

He did the same with Nico as he said, “You’re wassup. You know we were all at the trap house watching you take that belt from ole boy. That was insane, homie.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, it was kinda crazy. Next time we gotta find a way to have all y’all in the building too. I need my people around for moments like that.”

“No doubt. Y’all just gettin’ back in town?” Darryl asked.

I shook my head. “Nah. We’ve been back for a few days, but I’ve been chillin’ and spendin’ time wit’ Ma Dukes. You know how it goes.”

He nodded. “I feel you. I’m glad you pulled up, though. One of the lil homies gon’ be fightin’ tonight.”

“Who dat?” Nico asked, and I wanted to know the same thing. I was mentally running down all the new Havoc members and couldn’t think of one who had shown interest in boxing before.

“Malik.”

“Word? Since when did he start boxing?”

“It ain’t been too long. This is his first fight, but he’s pretty nice wit’ his hands. He said he was gon’ get at you when you touched back down.”

“Darryl. You can’t speak?”

The three of us turned in the direction of the woman’s voice, and I had to hold in my laughter. It was Tisha, the mother of Darryl’s kid.

He kissed his teeth. “Speak? Girl, I’m ’bout to cuss you out. Where is my daughter?”

Shaking my head, I dapped him up again. “Aight, homie. I’m a check you later,” I said before Nico and I walked off, laughing at Darryl’s situation. As we made our way through The Box, several women and other homies I was cool with stopped me to chop it up.

The Box was the underground fight club in Terry. It was where I started, and I fought there up until a year ago when I officially became an amateur boxer. I shook my head as I thought about it.

From The Box to the Heavyweight Champion of the World.

I still couldn’t believe it.

“All right, we’re ’bout to get into the main event of the night, y’all. If you still need to place a bet, go ’head and see Tommy in the back. He’s gon’ be done takin’ money in ten minutes,” the DJ said just as we were walking past his booth.

I didn’t look in his direction, but he noticed me because the next thing he said into the mic was, “Aye, y’all show some love to Terry’s very own Heavyweight Champion of the World. We got Faizon ‘Ghost’ Grey in the building!” he said and played the siren noise several times.

I heard several Havoc members shout our call while women started to cheer. There were a good amount of dudes who just stared me down or acted like they didn’t see me, but that was to be expected.

The Box was in the middle of the city and was considered a safe zone. Just like the church, the fight club was neutral territory, and no gang-related activity could take place on the grounds without the rule breakers enduring dire consequences. It was just one of those unwritten rules everybody in the hood respected.

“Hey, Faize. Joe told me to show you to a section. I have one just for you and your people over here,” a woman said as she approached me. She was wearing what looked like a black sports bra and matching shorts, both of which had The Box’s logo on them. Joe was the owner of the club and was always lookin’ out.

Giving the woman a once-over, I said, “’Preciate it, baby.”

She blushed and bit her bottom lip before leading us to the section. There was a small table and two worn-down sofas in the section, but we had a nice view of the ring.

Before she walked away, I ordered hot wings while Nico asked for a burger and a bottle of cognac. I shook my head.

“I know you ain’t about to drink a whole bottle tonight, Nic,” I said, even though I knew the answer.

“You know exactly that. I’on mind sharin’, though,” he said with a smirk.

I didn’t even bother responding because he knew I wasn’t drinking that. I hadn’t had a drink since I started taking boxing seriously a year ago. I learned quickly that it took a different kind of stamina to hang with professionals, and liquor did nothing to help with that.

The lights dimmed, and a spotlight shone on the ring and the DJ booth.

“Aight, y’all. It’s time for what you’ve been waitin’ on. Tonight, we got somebody who’s not new to Terry, but he is new to the ring: Malik Higgston!”

People in the room began to cheer for him, and I threw up an h in support.

“His opponent is none other than the undefeated Rodney Young!”

Rodney got a lot more love from the crowd than Malik did, but that was to be expected. I had been to the club for a few of his fights, and he was nice. I didn’t know much about him other than the fact that he was a Serpent and not from my hood. We had never fought because he didn’t start until I was done with underground boxing.

He was a good fighter, but I wasn’t feeling him as a person. One of the nights I came to The Box, I witnessed him putting his hands on one of the waitresses who wasn’t giving him any play. Just as I was going to intervene, Joe approached and kicked him out that night.

I had nothing for any man who liked to put his hands on women, especially not one who used those same hands as weapons in the ring. It was foul, and I couldn’t respect it.

I regarded him as they faced off. He was taller and had more muscle than Malik, but hopefully, the lil homie could at least last in the ring. The fact that he was Havoc meant he had heart. I just needed him to have some skill too.

Round one began just as my wings came. Malik held his own, and I was impressed with his natural talent. His form was a little off, but a little time in the gym with Blue would get him right in no time.

“Aye, I’ll be right back.”

Nico glanced at me with low eyes. He was lit already. “Where you goin’? It’s just gettin’ good.”

“I gotta take a piss. Get out my business, and don’t touch my food while I’m gone.”

He waved me off and turned his bottle up again as I stood. The entire time I made my way through the thick crowd, my face was tight because I kept getting stopped by people who wanted to talk to me. I didn’t have much patience for randoms anyway, but the fact that I needed to pee had me about to push them out of my way.

Eventually, I got to the restroom, quickly relieved myself, and washed my hands. I was still annoyed about the crowd and didn’t want to fight through it again. The thought had me wanting to bypass the foot traffic and head straight out of the exit door.

As I was leaving the restroom, a soft body collided with mine. I had to look down to see who it was, and when she lifted her pretty eyes to meet mine, my tense jaw relaxed. I almost wanted to smile, but it was in my DNA to reject the urge.

The light-bright beauty in front of me was easily the prettiest woman I had ever seen. The neon lights from the bathroom signs illuminated her smooth skin, and I was able to really digest her features and consider what it was about each of them that drew me in.

Was it the almond, downturned shape of her eyes or the fact that her irises were green that had me hooked on them? Was it the flawlessness of her bare face or all the freckles on her nose and cheeks?

I didn’t see a trace of that brown stuff women liked to put on their eyebrows on hers, but they were thick and perfectly arched. Her lashes were just as full. I trailed my eyes to her hair and leaned down a little closer. I heard her breath hitch, but I ignored it long enough to ask a question.

“Is that all you? Your hair, I mean.”

She frowned. “Yes. Can you let me go, please?”

I hadn’t even noticed I wrapped a hand around her waist, but now that I had…I didn’t want to let her go.

While my mood improved as I admired the masterpiece of a woman in front of me, hers seemed to be going downhill.

“Did you hear me? Let me go.”

I dropped my hand. “My bad, gorgeous.”

For a second, her hard gaze softened, and she licked her lips. Once the second passed, though, she took a step back and folded her arms.

“You need to start looking where you’re going when you walk.”

I chuckled. Not because anything she said amused me but because her silky voice was now in the running for the top spot of things I loved about her most.

“My bad,” I said again. “But all I did was open the door, gorgeous—to the men’s restroom. I think you might have been a lil too into your phone to realize you were coming in the wrong door.”

Her cheeks turned pink right on cue, and even that was sexy.

Who the hell was this woman?

Terry was only ten square miles large, so the fact that I had never seen her before meant two things: We weren’t from the same hood, and she didn’t come outside often. The second fact drew me in even more.

“Oh,” she said, turning toward the women’s bathroom.

“Wait.” She stopped in her tracks.

“Yes?” she asked, not turning to face me. I chuckled.

“I’m Faize. Can I get your name?”

Finally, she turned to face me. Squinting those eyes, she peered at me. “Why?”

“’Cause I wanna be able to alternate between that and gorgeous.” I had to chuckle at my own corny statement. This woman had me trying to flirt, and that activity was foreign to me.

The pink in her cheeks intensified, and she looked down briefly before meeting my eyes again.

“I’m Desirae, but everybody just calls me Rae,” she finally said.

The smile I had been trying to keep on lock finally broke through. The fact that I low-key felt blessed to know her name was insane. It was honestly a lil scary.

“Nice to meet you, Desi.”

She glanced down and licked her lips again.

“Desi?” she asked, her voice cracking just a little.

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“It’s nice to meet you too.”

“Who you here with?” I asked. If she was here with a dude, I honestly didn’t care, as long as he wasn’t one of my people. I wanted to know Desirae, and all that red in her cheeks said she wanted to know me too.

“My sister.”

“You and your sister can come chill wit’ me and my homie after you finish in the bathroom, then.”

“Restroom,” she said quickly, correcting me.

That made me laugh loudly. “My bad, gorgeous. You and your sister can come chill with us after you finish in the restroom.”

She looked away from me again and started chewing on her lip. “I-I, uh…” She took a deep breath before finally releasing her response. “I can’t.”

When she met my eyes again, she looked disappointed and…scared. That told me everything I needed to know. There was a punk in the building thinking he had a claim to her. The fact that she looked so spooked let me know he probably liked to use his hands to keep her in line and on his team.

I would handle that soon enough.

Instead of making my thoughts known to her, I nodded and said, “I understand. Enjoy your night, Desi.” With that, I walked away and headed back to my section. All the people didn’t even faze me as I passed them, because my mind was still back in that hallway with Desirae.

I had never in my life felt like I wanted to settle down or commit to one woman. The closest I’d ever come to a girlfriend was Keisha, and that was only because she refused to fall back. We had never been official, but she was a constant in my life. She was always around, and because I had no interest in laying with every woman in Terry, I often ended up in her bed.

As beautiful as Keisha was, cuffing her never crossed my mind. I wasn’t really a player, but I never wanted to be limited to only one woman. Well, not until I met my future wife outside the restroom. I didn’t know how to explain what was going on within me, but when I looked at Desirae, I knew exactly what I wanted. Our future together was locked in the moment our eyes met. It was only a matter of time before I made that clear to her.

Before that happened, I needed more pieces to her puzzle. I needed to know who she came to this fight to see.

“Took you long enough.”

I waved Nico off and took my seat. I trained my eyes on the bathroom hallway and kept them there until her pretty ass emerged. I watched as she crossed the room. Several dudes I recognized to be Serpents nodded at her, but none of them looked at her too long.

That piqued my curiosity because it could only mean they had respect for whoever she was attached to. After making her way through the crowd, she ended up at a smaller section that was across from mine, on the other side of the ring. There was a woman who resembled her sitting there, and the woman started talking as soon as Desi sat down.

My future wife wasn’t paying her any attention, though. She looked distracted, and I was hoping I was the reason why. I watched as her eyes scanned every inch of the room. It wasn’t until they landed on me that she ceased her search. I didn’t bother looking away. Instead, I smirked and gave her a head nod.

Her lips parted slightly, but she continued to stare at me until her sister tapped her arm repeatedly. It took a minute, but she peeled her eyes off me and tuned in to whatever the woman was saying. No longer interested in the fight, I spent the rest of the evening admiring Desi and counting the number of times her eyes wandered back to me.

Yeah. She was as good as mine. She just didn’t know it yet.